Living beyond one’s means is a deeply ingrained American habit that survived wrenching depressions in the 19th and 20th century. The passion for thrift stoked by the 2008 financial crisis too shall soon pass.

A dynamic economy needs prudent lenders to restrain the exuberance of borrowers.

In the Old World, only a few were entitled to the good things in life; the masses were to skimp, saving as much as they could for the hard times that were sure to lie ahead. The New World was egalitarian and optimistic. Wanting to live well wasn’t just for the rich. If you lacked the funds to pay for the finer coat or shoes, you would borrow and hope to repay when your lot improved, as it surely would. Thrift was glorified but rarely practiced. Borrowing, the historian Lendol Calder observed, was a “heavy burden” for the Pilgrims and a “chronic headache” for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Moreover, widespread spending and borrowing helped transform the American economy. Without mass consumption, there could be no mass production. Henry Ford’s genius would have been for naught without millions of venturesome consumers lining up to buy the Model T. And even though revolutionary manufacturing methods made cars much more affordable, the price wasn’t low enough for most buyers to pay with savings. By 1926, two-thirds of all cars were purchased on credit. Even the Great Depression didn’t deter borrowers. In 1935, the Bank of America blanketed San Francisco with an ad campaign for auto loans.

Today, millions of spendthrift buyers of iPads and of Angry Birds apps have upended the computer industry. Microsoft’s Kinect has become the fastest selling consumer device ever.

Of course, spending and borrowing without limit isn’t sustainable. A dynamic economy needs prudent lenders to restrain the exuberance of borrowers. Unfortunately, public policies have promoted the robotic extension of credit in amounts that can't possibly be repaid. We need to restore careful, case-by-case lending rather than bemoan the venturesomeness of the American consumer.